Cause and Effect Essay

Black Clouds

People start smoking for many reasons. Young people begin to smoke due to peer pressure. They want to look cool and have fun with their friends. Adults become smokers when they have a lot of stress and pressure about their financial or personal problems. Smoking can help them feel relaxed and release their emotions. Losing weight is also another reason why people are addicted to smoking. They think that smoking can reduce their desire to eat. However, do those people know how harmful smoking is? If they knew, would they want to quit smoking? There are many negative effects of smoking, such as health problems, social problems, and financial expenses.

First of all, there are many health problems related to smoking. Each cigarette contains many toxic chemicals. If people smoke, their internal organs could be damaged, so they could get cancer easier than people who have never smoked. The risk depends on how much and how long they have smoked. Of course, if they have smoked for a long time, there are many kinds of cancer that they can usually get: lung cancer, throat cancer, mouth cancer. In addition, smoking also causes many diseases beside cancer, such as heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure. Nonsmokers who inhale secondhand smoke could be victims of smoking, too. They are also at high risk for developing the same health problems that smokers can have. For instance, pregnant women exposed to secondhand smoke could have a baby with a low birth weight. Children living in the same house with smokers have a greater risk of asthma, pneumonia, and ear infection. Smoking affects not only the health of smokers but also the health of people who are frequently around smokers.

Smoking also causes social problems. Smoking can cause bad breath and body odors. When smokers talk to people, the stinky smell emanates from the mouth toward listeners. In addition, their bodies and their clothes still have the smell of cigarettes. People may feel irritated when people are around smokers because of their bad smell. If smokers look for a job, it would be hard for them to make a positive impression on employers who are nonsmokers. Another reason is that nonsmokers may not want to be near smokers because nonsmokers are afraid of getting sick if they inhale secondhand smoke. Therefore, nonsmokers may not want to make friends with smokers. This causes smokers to be isolated.

Smoking also increases financial expenses. It isn’t hard to calculate how much smokers spend on their bad habit. A smoker can consume one pack a day, and one pack costs approximately $7.  A smoker can easily spend over $200 per month. Due to smoking, their immune systems are weakened. They easily get sick, especially in winter. Consequently, they have to pay more money for treating their illness. For example, they often pay more for doctors and medication. An unhealthy habit like smoking is simply too expensive.

In short, it isn’t worth spending too much money on smoking. Social problems are inevitable for smokers. And smoking causes health problems both for smokers and for those people who have to live near them. For these reasons, many smokers want to quit. They could achieve this goal if they move to other places where there aren’t any smokers around, and they can try to use some methods, such as eating sunflower seeds and using e-cigarettes when they feel the need to smoke. Day by day, they can give up smoking. Or if they don’t quit it by themselves, they can go to the doctor, who has special ways of helping them. Quitting smoking is very difficult. However, if smokers really want to do it, they can.